City-Times Staff

State Rep. Brett Hulsey of Madison today announced his candidacy for governor.

Husley says he plans to reinvest heavily in clean energy, pledging $2 billion on green jobs, job training and public schools. He has been in the state Assembly four years and served on the Dane County Board for another 14.

He said he would create a new state park in the Penokee Hills as opposed to a planned iron mine in the northern part of the state, and said reinstating collective bargaining rights to public workers was one of his top priorities.

In 2012 Hulsey was charged with municipal disorderly conduct after an altercation with a 9 year-old  boy at a Dane County beach left the child’s parents feeling  “uncomfortable.”

According to the complaint, Hulsey rode his bike to the beach on July 4, 2012, where he went for a swim. Witnesses reported Husley engaging in “horseplay” with the boy and knocked him off his flotation device and later took photographs of the child. Hulsey pled no contest and was fined $114.

Husley’s announcement forces a primary in August, when he will face off with fellow Democratic candidate Mary Burke. The winner of that primary will face Gov. Scott Walker’s re-election campaign before the general election on November 4.